Pittman and Friends Podcast
Welcome to Pittman and Friends, the curiously probing, sometimes awkward, but always revealing conversations between your host, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman - that’s me - and whatever brave and willing public servant, community leader, or elected official I can find who has something to say that you should hear.
This podcast is provided as a public service of Anne Arundel County Government, so don’t expect me to get all partisan here. This is about the age-old art of government - of, by, and for the people.
Pittman and Friends Podcast
Chief Trisha Wolford on Leading the Fire Department
In this episode, Chief Trisha Wolford opens up about her path to public service and her experience leading one of the busiest fire departments in the country. Chief Wolford shares her perspective as one of just seven women in her fire academy class, using her leadership position to inspire others from all backgrounds to pursue careers in fire safety.
Chief Wolford also gives an insider’s look at the Anne Arundel County Fire Department’s operations, from innovative health programs to securing federal grants for staffing and equipment. Tune in to learn about the future of the department, including new fireboats for waterfront emergencies and a deep commitment to safeguarding communities.
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Welcome to Pittman and Friends. The curiously probing, sometimes awkward but always revealing conversations between your host, Anne Arundel County Executive Stuart Pittman, that's me, and whatever brave and willing public servant, community leader or elected official I can find who has something to say that you should hear. This podcast is provided as a public service of Anne Arundel County, so don't expect me to get all partisan here. This is about the age-old art of government of, by, and for the people. Welcome everybody. I am here today with our amazing Fire chief, Chief Trisha Wolford. Welcome.
Trisha Wolford:Thank you, happy to be here.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah. Well, I think everybody knows what a fire department basically is, but they don't necessarily know you. So tell us how you ended up being the fire chief of Anne Arundel County and what you did before.
Trisha Wolford:So, what I did before is I worked for Ledo Pizza, so one of our local restaurant gems. I have a background in art and marketing and design, so I worked for the family and did some.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Does Ledo's Pizza have a liquor license? Because I could swear I'd heard that you had been a bartender.
Trisha Wolford:I was a bartender, too.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Oh, that's also not at Ledo's, though.
Trisha Wolford:That's where the customer service skills come from - is the bartending. Yes, another great local restaurant, Outback Steakhouse. So yeah, I did a little of both of that. But there's always this kind of burning passion that happens. And I come from a family of public safety, fire and police. And the whole time I'm doing that I'm thinking I love design, I love art, I love what I'm doing, but I really want to do more. And I told my mom. I said, "Mom. I said my mom and my cousin, my uncle, they were all firefighters. I said I think I want to do what my cousin CJ does.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Your mom was a firefighter?
Trisha Wolford:No, my mom. I was talking to my mom and I said "I think I want to do what CJ does my cousin, and she said you want to be a firefighter? And I said "I do, I really do. I want to give it a try. And I think I'd had that thought all along and I was living out here at the time after college and was lucky enough to get hired by Anne Arundel County.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And you actually grew up where?
Trisha Wolford:Right outside Chicago. Rockford, Illinois, about 60 miles west of Chicago. And so Rockford Fire is where my family worked, but I was out here at the time so they told me to apply there. I applied out here. I was living in Millersville.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:All right, so you went to Fire Academy?
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, 2006 Fire Academy. Besides, knowing what firefighters eat because I would go to Sunday afternoon dinner to see my uncle and my cousin at the firehouse. I knew nothing about the fire department.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:What do they eat? I know they eat spaghetti here because we have, you know, the head of the union is Joe Adivinola and he can really cook Italian food. But, what do they eat elsewhere?
Trisha Wolford:And cannolis. Yeah. Cannolis. Meatballs. Yeah, Joe's got it squared away there. So well, we certainly eat anything and everything. We try to eat healthy, because you know we've got to perform in our 24 hours.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:We're totally getting off topic here, aren't we?
Trisha Wolford:I know, but food and firefighters are really so behind it.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So, you did the academy and tell us about serving in Anne Arundel County, and then where you went.
Trisha Wolford:Oh, amazing, it was absolutely fantastic. That was 2006. You know, came out and was a firefighter here at West Annapolis, went to paramedic school. Became a paramedic firefighter in the department, which, if our listeners don't know, every firefighter in Anne Arundel County is also an EMT or a paramedic. Everybody is cross-trained fire and EMS, which can be somewhat unique, but that means we can just do anything and everything for the community. So, I did that and then I was lucky enough to promote into a specialized unit, which is our fire investigation unit, which requires going to the police academy.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I remember that, yes.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay, so you've done them both.
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, so Anne Arundel County Police Academy, Class 73. Very different, very different.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:I know you're going to upset one side or the other, if you're the red or the blue team. If you say one is tougher than the other. So I'll back off on that question.
Trisha Wolford:You don't have to answer it. Thank you, thank you, but both are fantastic. I actually still, to this day, as fire chief, use skills that I learned in both academies, mentally and physically, so it's been a cool ride.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Can I ask you how many women in 2006 were in your fire academy?
Trisha Wolford:Actually, they did really good. There were seven of us in the academy class out of about total in the academy. I think we were just over 50, maybe 55. And we obviously try to hire as many well-qualified as possible. So yeah, we're just trying to keep making improvements.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So you weren't completely alone and we're doing better now, right?
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, yeah, we're doing great.
Trisha Wolford:And certainly as a female fire chief. I love to see females in the industry.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So okay, so you were working. What stations were you in?
Trisha Wolford:Oh gosh, you know pretty much all of them. There wasn't a station that I didn't work in, which is really cool to experience different areas of the county. But then I went into the specialized unit. So I was doing arson and explosives like our investigators do now, and I have this itch like I want to do more. I want to do more. How do I do more? And really the short version is in order to do more, you have to learn more and have more experiences.
Trisha Wolford:And I decided to leave Anne Arundel County, but only because I felt pretty confident I wanted to come back and be the fire chief and I didn't have those skills.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Really, you wanted to be the fire chief when you left?
Trisha Wolford:That was the only reason I decided to leave. I thought how am I going to get these skills? I have to learn more. I have to get my hands on more information and do more things. And it was terrifying. It was my 10-year anniversary. I left on my 10-year anniversary as a lieutenant and I went to Bozeman, Montana, and was the Deputy Chief there in their City Fire Marshal.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:How many people live in Bozeman at the time?
Trisha Wolford:Only about 50,000. It was a three-station department.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Little bigger than Annapolis.
Trisha Wolford:Okay, top five growing in the country.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:About 10% of the size of this county, right?
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, but I went there because it was paper. It wasn't operationally busy. It was administrative: learning everything, contract negotiations, payroll, building policies, strategic plans, trying to learn all the paper things. And I had a wonderful coach who helped coach me through this. And then she said to me one day you're going to need a more operational experience. We need to get you to a busier department. And I ended up in Spokane, Washington. My thought was not to continue to go further. My thought was to continue to move myself back east all along keeping an eye on things here in Anne Arundel County. And I thought, okay, well, I've probably got a little bit more time. There's an election coming up. We don't know what's going to happen. I kept hearing this guy's name Steuart Pittman. Have you heard of him?
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Me. Yeah.
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, you.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, I have. They tell me I'm county executive and I actually am. And, I got elected in 2018 and thought, you know, we need some new blood, we need a new fire chief, and your name came up from a number of people. Some were in the union. Some were people that I happen to know that worked in the fire department, and so I think we reached out to you before you reached out to us, didn't we? Or did you reach out to us?
Trisha Wolford:I was praying. I was praying that you would reach out, and I was certainly interested. But yeah, then the conversation started right after I think maybe one of your first few conversations.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, and we interviewed you by Zoom. I thought it was a telephone, but at that point.
Trisha Wolford:It was telephone, the first one we did by telephone.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay, yes, and we interviewed a few other people as well, of course, but you did stand out. And one of the things that I was interested in was the fact that you had worked in this county, so you knew the turf. You knew the department as well. You had gone to two other fire departments. You had gone through all kinds of training. These national training academies and things that firefighters go to when they want to move up the ranks. And then, when we interviewed you, it was very clear to me that you had a broad understanding of how government works and concern about people, and just spoke like somebody who should be running a fire department. And so, it was an easy decision.
Trisha Wolford:Thank you. It was a life-changing decision and it was truly a dream come true. I mean it was to come back home, to be with the firefighters, to still be back part of one of them, and what an amazing community. I mean this is the best job.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So we do know what a fire department is. We know the fire department puts out fires. We also know that they're in ambulances. Can you give us a sense of the scope of the work and how it's organized?
Trisha Wolford:Absolutely. It's 31 fire stations. We're just cresting 1,000 career strong. We also have about 350 operational volunteers. We also have about 800 to 900 administrative volunteers, and then we have our dispatchers. We have our support staff. So it's a very big organization. In the nation we are known as a metro department. We are one of the largest metro combination departments in the country. Prince George's County, for perspective, is the largest. So we're very close to them. Definitely top five. And so we do fire, we do EMS. Majority of our work is EMS. There are certainly a lot of medical calls, so about 75% of the work is EMS. About are certainly a lot of medical calls, so about 75% of the work is EMS. About 5% to 10% is fire. And then we have a lot of what we consider rescue or other calls, lift assist, customer service calls, motor vehicle collisions, things along that line. But our call volume continues to go up. Almost 100,000 calls a year.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So, very busy. I remember seeing statistics that the population has grown in the county but the call volume continues to go up almost 100,000 calls a year. So very busy. Yeah, I remember seeing statistics that you know the population has grown in the county but the call volume, particularly the EMS calls, has been so, so much more.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, and such a different game since post-COVID that really did medically change how we interact and the types of calls we go on and the increased amount of calls. Just no shortage. Everybody needs something. We're certainly honored to be the ones to be there for them, but it's just busy.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, yeah, okay. So the EMS part of it, though, is it's growing really fast. You take people to the emergency rooms at the hospitals, and the emergency rooms are very, very backed up. There are long, long, long waits. I know you've done some things to try to reduce the number that actually go to the emergency rooms and try to provide more services when you get the call. Can you tell us about those programs? Sure?
Trisha Wolford:Absolutely yes, and we have wonderful hospital partners: Baltimore-Washington, Anne Arundel Medical Center. We're very lucky to have two phenomenal hospitals right here in Anne Arundel County. So we have great partners. They've been collaboratively working with us. But some of the programs, you know what we find out from our paramedics. We have almost 350 paramedics in the department that are also firefighters -is the worst thing that can happen to a paramedic is they can not run calls, right. They don't want to be sitting and waiting. You have these skills. You want to help people. You hear the calls coming out, so the worst thing is to be like a caged animal waiting at the hospital, um, and just trying to cycle through and help people in 24 hours. So with the hospitals, we've had some great programs. One of them is mobile integrated community health.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:MICH.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, and this is an opportunity for the fire department, social services and also a nurse, a three-person team, to go out and work with folks that are maybe what we consider high acuity callers for our 911 system, that maybe have low acuity needs, and so we can meet them where their need is before it becomes a 911 need.
Trisha Wolford:The most challenging piece with that program is the funding. It is not a permanent program. We waver back and forth and working with all of our partners for funding, but it is certainly something that we hope to be able to keep and maintain. And then internally, just policy and having that good partnership with the hospital to say we can't sit here for four hours. We need you to help us. We have to find beds for these patients and the hospital certainly want to do that. But we also know we've sometimes have a staffing crisis. You know things that are out of my control, so we try to listen to what our medics have to say and make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to help them. But mobile integrated health has been a great collaboration. And when you talk about everybody coming together to try and do the right thing, that's the program.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yep, yep, interdepartmental, all the agencies, all the players, yes, um.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So you, um, uh, we've grown, right. We've grown the services. We've grown the staffing. I remember when I came in, there were a lot of complaints that Anne Arundel County had not, you know, were lowest by far, actually the lowest taxed county in the region. Other departments were growing when we were not, and I heard about crises with apparatus going out with nowhere near enough people on them, two, sometimes one, I think in some cases.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And so I know there was a decision under the last administration not to pursue a federal grant, safer grant to be able to hire you know, get some help hiring more firefighters. How have we done? Have we grown? Do we have growth still to do to be able to meet standards? How are you feeling about that?
Trisha Wolford:Is this my report card to you? Yeah, is this your PPA?
County Executive Steuart Pittman:No, this is yeah, yeah, I guess how are we doing on funding?
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, we are all doing great and I say we because that's been me, you, and the union. Right? That is, that is the administrative fire tetrahedron, right. That is what makes things good and glow and makes it all happy and we're doing fantastic. One of our first early discussions, if you remember, was should we accept this safer grant? And we did, and it certainly changed.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Because they give you money for the first two, three years, and then of course we have to pay those folks.
Trisha Wolford:Correct. Yeah, there's a matching.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:It's an obligation, even in the first years, it's less.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:It's an obligation in future years, sure.
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, and it is actually transitioned to be even better for agencies and cities and counties. And now, instead of a matching in those one to three years, it's 100% that is taken care of. And then the government or the agency takes on the responsibility of those employees. So, there is a national understanding.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:You mean, so I could hire a whole lot of firefighters and not have to pay anything, and then the next county executive will have to figure out how to pay them. Sorry.
Trisha Wolford:What an interesting theory.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, it's been done before, I know. But I will say that you and I both acknowledge that we are not to the national standards, yet we have grown significantly.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:We are way better than we were. We've done a lot of growth in terms of apparatus. We've had a lot of one-time money and federal money that's helped with apparatus and we've kept on with our capital projects to build new fire stations where we've needed them right to replace. Absolutely. So we're making progress. But the Firefighters Union, the International Association of Firefighters, has been at the budget town halls and will continue to. And what they're saying is. They're not saying pay us more. Of course, they want to be paid more. But they're saying we need more staffing, same as with the police department and a lot of other agencies. And they're saying we should be going back into the safer grant program and doing that. And I know we've talked about this accreditation process, that Anne Arundel County is not accredited by the National Association and that you have started that process. So what does it take to get accredited and how much would we have to grow?
Trisha Wolford:With all the work we have done, thankfully, we're laying this nice foundation to be able to begin the accreditation process, and that's the Center for Public Safety Excellence. And again, for our listeners, that doesn't mean we're not doing things right. That doesn't mean we're doing something wrong. That doesn't mean that I don't feel that they're already getting top-notch service. This is my heart and soul in this department. But what it does say to other departments is we have checked all these boxes and there's things from water supply to the age of the apparatus, to how many firefighters there's all these components that have to come together for the accreditation process. So I think when you and I discussed it.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:All of which you've been working on- and have a plan for, of course.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, absolutely.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Major improvements, yeah.
Trisha Wolford:When you talked about having two people on an engine, the national standard is four, right, so now we have three. So we're moving in the right direction. So we have the foundation of that accreditation. We know what we need. We haven't done the official. Bring the team in. You know.
Trisha Wolford:Let's start moving through the process because we knew our deficiencies were. And, you know, you and I have been here now six years and it certainly takes time. It takes time and money and make sure that we're putting the resources in the right place. So the improvements have been phenomenal, but we certainly know we need more improvements. So having the safer conversation is a valid conversation. Having the conversation about building back the reserve fleet of apparatus is a valid conversation. All of those things tie into moving forward to get the accreditation. So that is in the plans. We hope to get there sooner than later, but I know when we call that team in to be evaluated, we'll get it. It won't be the great job. We'll be back in six months. I want the team to come in and go wow, look what Anne Arundel County Fire Department just did, and then we have the accreditation, okay.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:You and I went out on a boat recently.
Trisha Wolford:Tell us about that boat, isn't she pretty? She's lovely.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And fast.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yes, and can move a lot of water quickly.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, yes, yes, that is so. We have two marine stations Station 19, Cape Sinclair, station 41, which is our Shadyside Avalon Shores. So the Cape Sinclair, the boat that's that you went out on, and then the other one should actually arrive within the next couple of weeks.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Twins, right.
Trisha Wolford:Twins, yeah. Fraternal twins, yeah, not identical, yes, twins. We have recently, with the help of the community, named the first boat, our first fire administrator. His name was Harry Klassmeyer, and the boat, the previous boat, was named the Lady Ann. So in honor of both of those, we now have our newest fire boat. The one that you were on is the Classy Lady.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Oh, is Klassmeyer called Classy for short?
Trisha Wolford:K-L-A-S.
Trisha Wolford:So Klass a nod to him and then, lady, a nod to the Lady Anne.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Klassie Lady.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, so we're working on naming the second one.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Klassie Lady, will be saving lives.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yes, yes, or maybe already is, yeah.
Trisha Wolford:Well, already is. Already in service, and obviously with all of our shoreline here in Anne Arundel County. It is a fire boat so it can pump the amount of water that eight fire engines could pump. Which means any waterfront homes we can assist, any boat fires we can assist, and probably one of the best things that we changed with the boat is a larger platform on the back to help with our dive, our rescue, our recovery. We know how much folks enjoy the water.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So it's not just fires, but it's people who are missing, people who had accidents on the water.
Trisha Wolford:Correct, and medical events.
Trisha Wolford:So the staff on there obviously, like I mentioned, is cross-train fire and EMS, so it has a full complement of medical equipment. So if there's a medical issue on a boat we can board the boat and start medical care immediately. So if there's a medical issue on a boat, we can board the boat and start medical care immediately.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And am I correct? I think I read that it can move four times the quantity of water, or the speed of the water. The volume of water as a fire engine?
Trisha Wolford:Correct, yes.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, because we got to actually turn on the hoses.
Trisha Wolford:And some of us got a little wet. But that was neither here nor there.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Right, right. So yeah, I think good investment is going to save lives and get there quickly. Those things, they move, they're fast.
Trisha Wolford:We can't deny the amount of people that are on the water, specifically in wonderful warm weather times. But a lot of people don't stay out of the water in the cold weather, either. So that is still part of our territory. That is still an obligation for us to make sure that we can provide service.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So could you say something about the culture of a fire department. The culture? We know that these folks are on 24-hour shifts. They sleep there and wait for calls and then they get up in the middle of the night. There are kitchens. Some of our fire stations now have exercise rooms. Do you visit the stations and what's it like?
Trisha Wolford:Yes, I love. I was actually just out this week. I got to ride along with EMS-1, which is one of our EMS supervisors who runs highly critical calls. The day before that, I was in South County with one of our battalion chiefs, and so, yes, I love being out.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Feel free to make a pitch for recruitment right now.
Trisha Wolford:Yeah, oh, I can.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yes, yes. You can you know, how do you, how do you apply to become a firefighter?
Trisha Wolford:Yes, well, first, off our social media Anne Arundel County Fire Department fighter. It's fun social media. The media team is fantastic.
Trisha Wolford:It's really witty. It's really engaging. It's very quick hitting, which is a lot of the demographic that we look to hire. Our culture has made such progression and obviously I'm biased. But we needed to modernize. We needed to meet the folks that we were looking to hire with the needs that they have. We needed to be listening to them.
Trisha Wolford:I tell our members all the time the game has changed. It's not as a new person coming in and applying like the fire department can't have that mentality of oh well, there's thousands of you, we'll get to you when we get to you. No, I need them. I want them, right. I want them to want to come to work. I want to hire underrepresented groups that have never seen firefighters in their community. They've never known a firefighter in their family and they're charged up and ready to go. We will always hire the most well-qualified, the best person to serve this community. But when folks don't even know that, oh my gosh, this is for me. When young women go I just saw a female firefighter. I remember the first time I saw a female firefighter.
Trisha Wolford:And that's the coolest thing. I was like that was a blonde ponytail under a helmet, right.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:That wasn't a normal thing and I know you've been recruiting at historically black colleges and universities
Trisha Wolford:And athletic teams.
Trisha Wolford:Yes, things like that, yes.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, to try to increase the diversity of the firefighters and made some progress.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:There is a sort of a history and a culture of recruiting from the volunteer ranks and, like you mentioned, we are one of the largest combined and when you say combined, you mean volunteer. And so we have about 1,000 firefighters, right the professionals and enough 1,000, career.
Trisha Wolford:Career, and then, yeah, anywhere between the writing database for operational volunteers can fluctuate, so that's why I say about 300.
Trisha Wolford:Sometimes it can be 400.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yes, and then our volunteer organizations. They're independent nonprofit organizations, and in fact they actually own some of our stations, right?
Trisha Wolford:They do. That's why they're great partners. Yeah, we rent from them, essentially.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Okay.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yes, so some are and some aren't, right? Correct. Owned by volunteers.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:And I remember, when I interviewed you, we asked you questions about, you know, because I had heard that there had historically in recent history especially, I think been friction between the volunteer organizations that all have their own needs and their own agendas and the department. And sometimes between the career and the volunteers who are in the same stations. I know they, in most cases they get along great, but you know some are volunteers and some are career and it's a very different situation. So do you want to say anything about how you manage this combination?
Trisha Wolford:A very complex organization. Yes, yes, I think all of that is true. There have been times where we've been butting heads, and whether that's the union, the volunteer leadership. At the end of the day, the one thing I say to everyone is we're going to ask ourselves two questions here, and if we can answer yes to both of them, then we're going to move forward. And I don't care who you work for or the reasons why you come into the building to serve the community volunteer career, but the answers should be the same. So number one is this the right thing to do for our community? If the answer is yes, then we move to question number two. Is this the right thing to do for our firefighters? Firefighters is gender neutral career, volunteer neutral, right. It is just a word that is all- inclusive, and if the answer is yes, then we should all be doing it. Where we had struggled at time is I was a yes and a yes.
Trisha Wolford:They were a no and a yes, right, trying to get things even. The relationships, the partnerships, I think are really good right now. It's okay to disagree, but I refuse to disagree on something that would be good for the community and I know we should be doing. Nobody says the job's going to be perfect and flowers and rainbows every day, and sometimes you got to fight for what you know is right. But I absolutely adore this community and I feel like I will always make a decision. That is number one, is this good for our community, which means our members in the community? And if that answer is yes, then yeah, I can fight just like the rest of them if I need to. I was raised by a very strong single mother who is Sicilian, so we can talk about food and we can talk about getting stuff done. Because that's what my mother taught me is both of those things.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Well, the great thing is that we still have these volunteer organizations and these volunteers.
Trisha Wolford:And they're phenomenal.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, I mean, you really got to hand it to them that they're maintaining.
Trisha Wolford:To take their personal time to not get paid, but the phenomenal is the fact that they show up and that's what means something right. When you show up and you're ready to ride, or you show up and you're planning a fundraiser because you're going to put that money back into a volunteer-owned station. You don't have to be just a writing member to show up. Because we have some great volunteer chiefs that are running calls, that are helping in the background, but you have to be present and do it for the right reasons.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So if somebody wants to be a volunteer firefighter. Where do they start? Who do they contact?
Trisha Wolford:So they can uh, the aacountyorg and then click on the fire department. There's a link on there for volunteer services.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Volunteer services, okay.
Trisha Wolford:Yep, there's a link in there. Same thing on our social media page. They can message us. They can put a note in the chat, whatever they want to do.
Trisha Wolford:Every volunteer company has a social media page.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:But so look in your neighborhood, drive by the fire station. If it says has the word "volunteer on it, go up.
Trisha Wolford:Sure, yeah, knock on the door, ring the buzzer, absolutely. Say how do I help? We would be happy to have anybody, but again, you've got to do the work.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yep, sure, yeah, no, it is a major commitment. Yeah, oh, yes, the training and the service. Okay, tell us about the International Association of Fire Chiefs. I have heard that you are serving as the vice president right now of that organization. And first vice president until August and then, if you do a good enough job, you are likely to be elected the president of that national organization. What do they do and what's it like serving there?
Trisha Wolford:It's really cool to serve. It is an international organization. We have great partners - Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia. So the organization, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, really is something that used to.
Trisha Wolford:Most people thought it used to just be for fire chiefs. It's really not. It's for all ranks. We try to make it a common holding place of where you can find information, where you can network. There's no way that, being the fire chief of Anne Arundel County, that I don't have the same issues as a fire chief in Texas, that a captain in my agency doesn't want to collaborate and meet with another captain in Wisconsin, right. So it really tries to connect everybody. The issues that we see in the fire service are national and international issues. One of the biggest issues that we've seen since COVID is apparatus. You used to be able to buy a fire truck or a fire engine and get it in a year. Now it's three or four years and the prices have doubled or tripled. So the International Association of Fire Chiefs, when you sit on that board, you are able to make some big decisions and have conversations with the White House or with these large manufacturers to say this can't happen.
Trisha Wolford:We cannot have communities.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:You were just appointed to a presidential commission. On what?
Trisha Wolford:The First Net Authority. Correct, yes. First Net, okay, yes yes, and that's actually based on the 9-11 report that came out after the 9-11 tax. And this is about communication and understanding that our firefighters and our police officers, 911 dispatchers, sheriffs. We need to make sure in these major events that we can communicate well. So that is all about one of our biggest lifesavers, which is communications. So it is nice to have access nationally to understand the big problems and then to be able to bring those solutions right back here to Anne Arundel County. I mean, that's really been. The biggest thing is when we're seeing delays in our apparatus and for me, the biggest heartache is the price. You know, when I came in, you paid $500,000, $600,000 for a fire engine. It's $1.3 million for that exact same fire engine, which is detrimental to these communities, to budgets, and but to know.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:These companies give you a discount because you're going to be the president.
Trisha Wolford:Well, no, that would not be ethical, but um, but it is nice to lead.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Your truck's delivered quicker.
Trisha Wolford:Huh, maybe.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Or your boats.
Trisha Wolford:It's good to be able to lead those discussions and that they know Anne Arundel County is a player. We're interested, um, and you know our community members want and deserve whatever we can get for them. So to be able to be a voice and being the president just allows me to have a bigger voice, which is really nice and hopefully solve things for firefighters and paramedics and dispatchers everywhere. Anybody that works in the streets and runs calls just gets frustrated with those little things, and my hope is that they know somebody is thinking of them and working on it. And that's how I approach this department is I hear you? I want to fix it for you. Let me see what I can do, and I never thought that let me see what I could do would involve communicating with the White House.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Yeah, okay.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:So here's sort of a last question, and it's a little bit of a curveball and different. If you were told you could no longer be in the fire service for some reason and you had to switch careers tomorrow, what would you do?
Trisha Wolford:I would do one of two things. I would be a curator at an art gallery.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Really?
Trisha Wolford:Or I'd want to design handbags and high heels.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Oh my God, from fire chief to high heels and handbags. Yeah no, you, you, I mean you are always the best dressed in the group and you can tell that you're very artistic.
Trisha Wolford:And well, both of those elements, um, are wants, not needs, in life, um, but they bring joy to people.
Trisha Wolford:They provide confidence, especially to females. It's one of the things I learned about being a female in the industry. You have to pull confidence from anywhere you can, and some days it might be a great pair of high heels at a speaking engagements that gives you the power to stand up in front of a room when there's 800 people you've never met before. Or sometimes it's a beautiful piece of artwork that hangs in your office, that provides you calm and a good mental space to make a really difficult decision. So they may seem like, wow, that would be something totally different, but you know how difficult our decision making can be and you know when you have those little moments where you just need something else. So it's really environmental things that provide you something.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:Can I make a suggestion?
Trisha Wolford:Sure.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:That if this were to happen, that maybe, instead of making handbags and high heels, that you think about being a governor or a president or some very high-level management position, and maybe even a little political.
Trisha Wolford:I love this idea.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:You're not political, but you have an amazing ability to connect with people and I've talked to you about management issues in county government outside of the fire department and you're rather brilliant at it. So I think you should look a little higher. I don't know whether that's higher, but maybe a different direction of service.
Trisha Wolford:I'm going to think about this. Okay, I like this idea. Thank you.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:All right, they can blame me for when you file for your candidacy. Well, thank you so much, and thank you for leading our fire department. The men and women who work there are so dedicated and so brave and we rely on them. So thank them from me and, I think, from all 593,000 residents of Anne Arundel County. They're a very popular bunch because we need them.
Trisha Wolford:Thank you. We love the work we do. It is a true honor, and again, I know I've said it before, but it's just a phenomenal community. So we're just happy and grateful and thankful that we're here.
County Executive Steuart Pittman:All right, well, thank you, community. So we're just happy and grateful and thankful that we're here. All right, well, thank you for listening everybody, and if you want to know who's going to be the guest next week, you should hit the subscribe button on whatever app or service that you're using and you will get on the list to be notified. Thank you.
